Machine for cutting and interfolding sheets of paper and the like.



- L. A. STRAUBEL. MACHINE roa cunme AND mnaarowms sums OF PAPER AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION TILED Aue.|9'. 191s, 2 1,242,262,, I Patqnted 0015.9, 1917. I 4 SHEETSSHEET I I 1 Wm 5%; ,dZg 1 a L. A. STRAUBEL.

MACHINE FOB CUTTING AND INTERFOLDING SHEETS OF PAPER AND THE [IKE- APPLICATION HLED AUG.I9, l9l6- 1,242,262.

4 SHEETS-SH EET 2.

QJ WIJWX QQ:

W Mm)??? I M m V WW Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

L.-A. STBAUBEL. MACHINE FOR CUT'HNG AND ENTERFOLDING SHEETS OF PAPER AND THE LIKE.

. APPLICATION. TILED AUG. 19, 1916. 1,242,262..

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- Patented Oct. 9,1917.

v L. A. 'STRAUBEL. MACHINE FOR CUTTING AND INTERFOLDING SHEETS OF PAPER AND THE LIKE APPLICATION I'ILED AUGJQ, I916. I

1,24%,262 Patented 001;. 9,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- "I'm-ll MI -hum III-mm:

- III-mm nurrnn sraras PATENT ouureu.

LOUIS A. STBAUBEL, OF GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING AN D INTERFOLDING- SHEETS OF PAPER,AND THE LIKE.

Patented Get. a, rare.

' Application filed August 19, 1916. Serial No. 115,773.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in machines for cut-' ting and interfoldi'ng sheets of materialsuch as toilet paper and paper toweling.

In machines of this nature, terial is usually'fed to the machine from a pair of continuous rolls-and the webs of these rolls are cut or slit both longitudinally and transversely to form the individual sheets, which are subsequently interfolded.

It has been heretofore found desirable to group the web feeding means, the slitting means, and the transverse cutting means about a pair of bed rolls, between which the work material is conveyed to the interfolding mechanism; and in machines of considerable width, wherein the webs of work material would be slit in three or more parts, the webs must be initially threadedimanually in the machine from the top thereof. This arrangement necessitates the provision of parent or supply rolls'of work material at'both the sides of the machine, which by their disposition interfere materially with the removal of folded sheets from the machine.

It is therefore an important object of the invention to provide an arrangement wherein one side of the machine is exposed for the removal of folded sheets, and inasmuch as I contemplate the procurement of this arrangement by providing both parent rolls at one side of the machine and extending one web of workmaterial entirely over the machine, a further object in this connection is to provide a means whereby the work material may be automatically threaded between the bed rolls and the various operating means grouped thereabout.

Another object, which is compassed in the automatic threading arran ement, is to provide a means for preventing the work material from turning up and following the transverse cutting means which extends entirely across the slit webs.

It is a further important ob]ect of the Sheets of,

the work ma- I and longitudinally present invention to provide a folding mechamsm which is of relatively simple structure, and positive in its operation, to promote its efficiency particularly with respect to permitting actuation at a relatively high speed.

The present folding mechanism comprises a pair of opposed members mounted for pivotal oppositely oscillatory movements and it is now more particularly an object of the present invention. to provide means for successively clamping spaced folded portions of the sheets against the outer faces of the members to procure a positive creasing of the sheets whereby upon rotation of said members to dispose the bends of the sheets at their respective sides of the pile of folded sheets, the material atthe sides of the bends willbe disposed in a plane parallel to the face of the pile, crimping the material as it is fed to the pile, and will he positivelycreased to avoid the necessityof pressing the folded sheets after their removal from the machine.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view. the invention resides more particularly in the novel combination, arrangement and formation of parts more particularly hereinafter described and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an end elevationalview of a sheet cutting and interfolding machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 7 looking endwise at the folding mechanism of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 7. taken centrally through said folding mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on of Fig. 2. x

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken centrally of one side of the machine,-as indicated by the line 5'-5of Fig. 6. v Fig. 6 is a top view of one side of'the machine.

Fig. through one side portion of the machine looking downwardly on one side of the folding mechanism.

Fig. 8 is a partly diagrammatic view showing the operation of the entire machine.

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view of the to avoid any possibility of 7 is a horizontal sectional view the line 4-4..-

sheet, the

(till vmature the action of the transverse Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, the improved machine comprises a body frame on which is longitudinally mounted a pair of shafts 6 Carrying the body rolls 7 of the feeding and cutting mechanism which are in engagement, and between which the mutually overlapped sheets of material pass downwardly to the folding mechanism. Disposed at the sides of the shafts 6 are shafts 8 each carrying a pair of preferably rubber faced feed rolls}? in frictional engagement with the corresponding body roll, the feed rolls of each shaft being spaced apart Suficiently to provide clearance for an annular slitting blade 10 carried by a collar 11 mounted on a longitudinal shaft 12 which ZlSjOUI'nfilEd at its ends in bearing brackets 13 upstanding at the endsof the frame. These slitting blades engage in an annular groove 14 in the bed rolls, and thus the webs of paper are continuously longitudinally slit in moving therepast.

Journaled also in the bearing brackets 13 and disposed above each feed roll is a pair of cutting shafts 15 on. alternate portions of which are mounted a series of sleeves-16 having overlapping flanges at their ends. and each being provided with a longitudinal socket receiving a transverse cutting knife 18 engageable in a longitudinal recess 19 in the bed roll. The operation' of these knives 18 is such that they act successively to produce a single transverse cutin the work material, and by so dividing the transverse cutting operation of the peripheral portions of the slitting lmives and the peripheral portions of guide rollers 23, later described, may be disposed in overlapping relation with the peripheral portions of adjacent sets of transverse cutting portions and the tendency of the sheets to turn up immediately subsequent or prior to their cutting operation is thus avoided without the necessity of providing a vacuum or other additional means for holding the sheets'on the bed roll.

In common with other-machines of this cutting means of each bed roll is so timed that the sheets pass between the bed rolls in mutually overlapped relation forming a continuous web of material to be acted on by the folding means. The knife carrying sleeves 16 are held against rotation on the shafts 15 by set screws 16" and thus the sleeves may-be readily adjusted to individually adjust the position of the knives of each set.

To guide the sheets after passing the transverse cutting blades, for proper movement between the bed rolls, a shaft 20 has its squared ends slidable in vertical slots 20 in pivotallg' suspended hanger arms 21 carried by the caring brackets 13 the Shaft inafter to be described.

being preferably urged toward the bed rolls by springs 20 although a spring means for urging the shaft is not at all times essential; Mounted on each side portion of the shaft are a pair of cam sleeves 22 on which are rotatably mounted suitable guide rolls 23. A single general support for guide rollers associated with both of the bed rolls, is thus provided and by the provision of the cam sleeves22, the rollers 23 may be readily adjusted for proper engagement with the corresponding-bed rolls, it being noted that the shaft 20 is fixedly the hanger arms 21, and that the cam sleeves are held against movement on the shaft either 'frictionally as in the present instance or by any other means. 1

Taking up now the folding mechanism of the machine, pairs of alined longitudinal stub shafts 24 are journaled in the ends of the body frame 5 under the bed roll shafts 6 and the stub shafts at one end of the frame are projected outwardly thereof and carry crank arms 25 connected by p itmen '26 with relatively shorter crank arms 27 of a pair of longitudinal shafts 28 journalcd in the frame ,outwardlyof the stub shafts 24, whereby rotation of the shafts connected with 28 will effect oscillatory movements of the pairs of stub shafts 24.

Carried on each pair of alined stub shafts 24 is a folding member comprising end plates 29 fixed on the stub shafts 24 and connected at adjacent peripheral portions by a preferably transversely arcuate Wall 30,at one side edge of which is formed an inwardly extending wall 31, the other edge of the arcuate wall 30 being directed outwardly at 32 to form a bending ledge here- The end portions 29 and the walls 30 and 31 preferably form a single casting. For clamping spaced portions of the continuous web of overlapped sheets alternately to the oscillatory folding members, a plate 33 is slidably mounted on the outer face of the wall 31 by reason of pin and slot connections 35 therewith and by extending the ends of the plate through slots 36 in the heads 29, of this plate is laterally directed toward the wall 30 to form a clamping lip 37 adapted to coact therewitln this lip being normally urged to clamping engagement by a series of expansile springs 39 disposed in sockets 40 formed transversely in the wall 31 and bearing at their outer ends against lateral lugs 41 at the inner side of the clamping plate. The ends of the clamping lips 37 are and the outer end adapted to alternately each engage the bend- B clamping member mounted on the inner reduced ends of the stub shafts 24 and carry at their outer ends a longitudinal tuck blade 44. These arms are thus movable independently of the fol 5 ing members and are controlled for proper movement by links 45 pivoted thereto and mounted 'on' cams 46 carried on the corresponding shaft 28.

The movement of the clamping plates is Is also procured independently of the clamping members and through the medium of the shafts 28 by cam disks 47 loosely mount-' edon the stub shafts 24 at the ends of the folding members and havetheir cam portions engageable with rollers 48 carried on the ends of the clamping plates. "The cam disks 47' have pivoted thereto links 49 which have their other ends of annular. shape to embrace cams 50 on the shafts 28.

Taking up now the operation. of the folding mechanism the foldingmembers simultaneously and continuously pivotally oscils late each through a quarter revolution, and

the upper and lower limits of oscillation of the coacting bending ledges and clamping lips respectlvel'y lie substantially in the horizontal plane passing through'the axis of oscillation of the folding members, the lower limit of oscillation of the clamping lips be so ing consequently at the vertical plane pass ing through the axis of oscillation of the folding members, whereby the folds held by the clamping lips are disposed horizontally when released. As the inner side of a osc llates upwardly, its clamping lip 37 will move into the recess of. the bending ledge 32, to provide a definite bend in the web for proper coaction with the tuckingbladedd, it being noted that this so clamping action occurs immediately below the meeting edges of a pair of sheets. The

tucking blade 44 of said other folding member then moves. downwardly between its'cor responding bending ledge and the wall of a6 the-other drum to thus dispose the bend or fold of paper between the lip 37 and wall 30. By reason .of its individual cam, the tucker'bladethen quickly moves upwardly and the clamping blade 33 draws its lip 37 against the wall 3Q-to firmly clamp the old. Oscillatory movement of the folding members then continues and as the fold carrying member reaches its limit of oscillation the fold of work material is'released by en- $8? gagement of the clamping blade end 33 with portions 47 of. the cams, this movement to releasing position occurring immediately prior to the movement of theclamping lip 37 of said blade pasta correspondan ingside edge of a chute 51 disposed under the folding members for receiving the inrfolded pile of sheets. The entire operation described is repeated alternately with respect to the folding members. By reason 65. of the pitman connection for procuring pivconsequently otal oscillation of the members, it is noted that the speed of the folding members-is reduced ad acjent their limits of-oscillatory movement, and thus the various clamping and tucking operations are facilitated. An important feature of the present arrangement is that the successive folds of work material are clamped against the outer faces of the members, and thus in their movements to releasing position thematerial at 5 the sides of the folds is disposed substantially horizontally to lie in its proper position on the pile of folded material, to thus eliminate the possibility of crimping the material adjacent its portions gripped by 0 the folding members, .when said work materlal is disposed on.the pile. I am aware that heretofore a means has been provided for securing folds of work material to the peripheral faces of rotating cylinders, but 5 such securing means contemplates pin holding means and notclamping means, and the material is not positively creased as in thepresent structure, nor is it. v gripped in a sufliciently efficient manner, as the pins tend to tear out of the material, particularly when encountering a flaw in the texture thereof. 1 To successively. pack the folds of the work material in thechute 51, a series offpresser fingers 52 are disposed at each side of the chute, having their extremities extending through slots 53' therein, and each series of fingers is carried on a shaft 52 which is imparted oscillatory movement b means of 09 a roller carrying arm 56 pro ecting there-- from and engageable with a cam 55 carried on the corresponding shaft 28, the shaft. being urged by a suitable spring 57 to a position wherein the fingers 52 are held by 5 the cam in pressing engagement with the folded work material and are raised only momentarily by the cam incidental to the releasing movements of the clamping plates,

in their raised positions said fingers engag- 1 ing in transverse slots 58 formed in the walls of the folding members and in said plates whereby to engage the upper faces of the folds of work material.

It is noted that in addition to its sim- 5 plicity the present folding mechanism is entirely positive in its operation of folding andv manipulating the work material and thus the folding mechanism will operate efficiently at a relatively great speed.

Returning now to the general construction of the machine, power isinitially imparted thereto preferably through one of'the shafts 28, which in Fig. 7 is shown extended past the frame and gear wheels 59 and 60 are 25 mounted on the shafts 28 and the bed roll shafts-6 respectively, each pair of gears 59 and 60 being connected by an idle gear 61 and the gears 60 being in mesh. Thus a continuous drive is provided across the machine 130 and the shafts 28 are rotated in difi'erent directions to procure opposite oscillatory movements of the folding members. The gear wheel 60 of each bed roll shaft is in mesh with gears 62 on the adjacent ends of the corresponding pair of cutter shafts 15, these gears. being laterally spaced on the shafts by reason of the proximity of said shafts and the gear 60 being consequently of double width to engage said gears 62. Each of the slitter shafts 12 is driven by a sprocket connection 63 with one of the correspondent cutter shafts.

The machine is supplied with work material from a pair of supply or parent rolls (not shown) at one side of the machine, and the material from the lower roll passes directly between the adjacent bed roll 7 and feed roll sections 9 while the material from the upper parent roll passes over a pair of guide rolls 6%. at the upper corners of the machine and then downwardly and about the other feed roll sections 9 into the machine. Thus one side of the machine is entirely open and the chute 51 has its lower end directed laterally to discharge on to a suitable table at said side of the machine. In machines wherein 'the material is slit into three or more portions access to the top of the machine cannot be had by reason of the web of work material thereover and the webs of material are threaded through the machine automatically by reason of the overlapping-relation of the various feeding, slit-' ting and transverse cutting means on the body rolls.

lVhile the present machine has been described as particularly adapted for use in connection with the continuous =operation of cutting and interfolding sheets it is obvious that one side of "the cutting and slitting mechanism forms a complete unit for cutting, slitting and delivering single sheets of material, and it is also apparent that the folding mechanism forms a complete unit for folding a continuous web of material not necessarily formed of overlapped sheets. Therefore it is to be appreciated that various features of the invention may find use other than in the specific connection described, and that various difierences in structure may be resorted to without departing in any manner from the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described the combination of a pair of folding members 'mounted for oscillatory movement downward and outward from juxtaposed initial positions and means for alternately clamping spaced portions of a web of work material against the outer faces of sald members.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a pair of opposed members I mounted for pivotal oscillatory movement,

and means for alternately clamping spaced aaraaoa portions of a web of work material against the outer face of said-members.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a pair of folding members mounted for oscillatory movement downward and outward from juxtaposed initial positions and means for bending spaced portions of a web of work material and for clamping said bent portions alternately against the outer faces of said members.

i. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a pair of folding members mounted for oscillatory movement downward and outward from juxtaposed initial posit-ions, means for oscillating said members simultaneously in opposite directions, clamping lips carried by said members and engageable against the outer facesthereof and means carried by said members for forming folds of material between the.

clamping lips' and said members.

In a machine of the class described the I combination of a pair of folding members mounted for oscillatory movement downward and outward from juxtaposed initial positions, means for oscillating said members simultaneously in opposite directions and means for attaching spaced portions of a web of Work material alternately to said members. i

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a pair of folding members mounted for oscillatory movement down Ward and outward from juxtaposed initial positions, means for oscillating said members simultaneously in opposite directions, clamping lips carried by the members for relative lateral sliding movement to clamp material against the members, bending ledges on the members for coaction with the, clamping lip of the other member and means for forming a fold of work material between a clamping lip and its corresponding member when said clamping lip is in juxtaposition with its corresponding clamping ledge. 7. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a pair of folding members mounted for oscillatory movement downward and outward from juxtaposed initial positions, means foroscillating said members simultaneously in opposite directions. clamping lips carried by said members and engageable against the faces thereof, said clamping lips and the opposed members being provided with alined transverse grooves and presser fingers engageable in the grooves upon movement of the members to releasing position.

8. In a machine of the class described. a pair of bed rolls, feeding slitting and transverse cutting means grouped about the bed rolls, folding means under the bed rolls and including a chute extending to one side of the machine, means at the other side of the machine for supporting the supply rolls of on each'shaft an here including journaled work material between the bed rollsand said means grouped. thereabout.

9. In a machine of the class described the combination of a pair of pivotally mounted folding members disposed in parallel jux-- taposed relation, a pair 'of driven shafts, crank and pitman connections between each shaft and a correspondingfolding member to procure oscillatory -movement of said member upon rotationof the shaft, a clamping lip; slidably ca'rried-byeach folding member and resiliently urged-to clamping osition, a foam rotatably mounted on each olding member for operative engagement with the clampin correspondinglip, a .cam d link connections between the cams. I

10. In a machine of the class described, the combination of apair of folding members pivotally mounted for oscillatory movement downward and posed initial portions, a ,pair of operating shafts, arms pivoted concentric with ;the folding members, the; arms, cams on the shafts connected with the tucking blade arms, a second set of cams on the shaft connected with the folding members, and tuck clamping. means on the folding members.

11. In a' machine of the class described, the combination of a pair of, folding memend plates, a wall connecting peripheral a transverse wall peripheral wall, a the transverse wa at one edge of the late slidably mounted on and projected outwardly thereof, and having its ends laterally turned to provide a clamping lip, means resiliently urging said plate inwardly to clampingly engage its lip with the peripheral. wal means for procuring tucks of work material -.-between the lips and corresponding walls, means for rocuring oscillatory movements of theolding tmembers and outward from, -juxta-' tucking blades'carried by projecting fingers at the fingers and means for rocking the-cams,

portions of said end means for sliding said plates outwardly in the upper limits of oscillatory movement of the clamping members and corresponding walls.

'12. In a machine of the class described the combination of a pair of folding members each including end I plates, I Journal pintles on the end plates, a wall connecting the peripheral portions of the plates, a transverse wall at one-edge of the peripheral wall, a plate slidably'mounted on the trans-' -verse wall and having one end projecting outwardly thereofand laterally turned to form a clamping lip. means resiliently'urging said clamping lip to engagement with the first named wall, projecting fingersat the ends of the clamp ng lip plates, cams journaled on thepintles of the end plates and engageable with said fingers and means for rocking the cams.

13-. In amachine of the class described the combination of a pair offolding members each including end plates, journal pintles on the end plates, a transverse "wall at one edge of the'peripheral wall, a plate slidably mounted on the transverse wall and having one end projecting outwardly. thereof and laterally turned to form a clamping lip, means resiliently urging said clamping 11p to engagement with the first named wall,

ends of the clamping lip plates, cams journaled on the pintles of the end plates and engageable with saig sai cams each including an enlargement engageable'with the corresponding fingers of the clamping lip plate in the normal hmit of upward movement of said plate and a sec- 0nd enlargement engageable with the finger f L. A. STRAUBEL;

Witnesses:

FRANK S. RATGLIFFE, M. Downer. 

